Predator
by averagepoptart
Summary: She hated him. How could she not hate that sickening smirk that seemed to grow on his face whenever she was around? It was like he was thinking about what he had done and what he had yet to do to her. He was a predator and she the prey. His little game.
1. Chapter 1

She hated him. How could she not hate that sickening smirk that seemed to grow on his face whenever she was around, whenever he started to think about what he had done? What he had done to her.

How could she not hate the way that the thick brows on top of his head would rise ever so slowly, ever so mockingly whenever she tried to refuse, tried to stop him. It would seem that, possibly, this time he might relent and give her a break and have some bit of mercy, but those eyes, already so dark, had already dilated and grown darker. There was no going back. There never was.

How could she not hate every single thing about him, from his handsome but repulsive face to the darkness of his soul? From his teasing false smiles to the way that he moved, like a predator, stalking its prey: her. She hated him; there was never a time that she hadn't.

He came to her randomly at the worst of times, in the worst of places. When he showed up, it was never a surprise to her, but always a disappointment. His appearance sent her stomach to her feet, her eyes to the floor, and her spirits to the ground. Above all else, he terrified her. Whenever he showed up, her first instinct was to set to shaking immediately. Her vision became spotted and blackened before spinning quickly back into reality, to him.

Sometimes he wouldn't come to her for weeks at a time. She would see him only in passing when he wouldn't acknowledge her in the slightest. It was during times like those that she could imagine that it had never happened, that it couldn't happen, and that it would never happen again. She could think that maybe, just maybe, he had forgotten about her, that he had found someone else. At times she even started to believe it. In the end she was only being cruel to herself, offering herself a sliver of hope until it was snatched away from her when he eventually, inevitably returned.

He had been a part of her life for years, ever since they were young children and he a new neighbor and potential playmate for her.

Her family lived near a cluster of large homes on the English country side. When one house, within walking distance of her own, became vacant, it was only a matter of time before his family moved in and made themselves at home. It wasn't much of a family. He lived with only his mother. His father was out of the picture and he had no siblings or relatives that she knew of.

She remembered that day she first met him.

Her parents had been talking about new neighbors ever since the house went up on the market. She learned through them that there would be a child her age. She was excited by the prospect of a new playmate, someone to play dress up with and discus magic with. She had never imagined that the new neighbor would be a boy.

The day that the new family moved in, her parents, being the sociable people that they were, had invited them over for lunch the following afternoon. She spent the whole day thinking about her new playmate and imagining all the fun things that they would be doing together the next day. She had fantasies about adventures in the woods behind her home and becoming best friends with the neighbor.

When the couple arrived the next day and she saw that he was not a girl but a dark and quite spoiled looking boy, she was immediately crushed. She thought that he was quite ugly with crooked teeth and bushy eyebrows. Her father and mother welcomed them and asked the woman to join them in the sitting room for some tea. As an afterthought her mother acknowledged the two children, telling them that they could go and play in the backyard until lunch was ready. That was when he turned his dark eyes on her and for a reason that she couldn't understand, her blood chilled and she froze. All he did was stare until he smirked and flashed his crooked teeth at her.

Her mouth slightly agape she turned around swiftly, terrified for some unknown reason, to follow her mother. Before she could get two steps, a hand grabbed onto her wrist and a jolt went through her body. She looked up at his scowling face.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked while rolling his eyes dramatically.

She snatched her arm away from him and when he turned his back on her and walked towards the front door, she didn't follow, but stood there, too nervous to do anything.

He turned back around with his hand on the door knob, "Well?" he asked impatiently.

"I- I, um… yes. I'm coming," she stuttered and then slowly followed him after a glance behind her shoulder to where the adults had disappeared into the hall.

On the way to the backyard, she kept noticing how different he was from herself. He was taller, not much taller but he did have a good two inches on her. While her hair was light and long, his was cropped short and dark. His eyes were a color darker than brown and hers were a light blue color. He caught her staring and gave her a stern look that sent her eyes to staring at the grass for the rest of the walk.

They stopped at the swing set and she sat down on a swing, still not looking at the boy that inexplicably frightened her to her very core. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him standing and staring at her, she turned red and continued looking at the ground, barely swinging. After a long pause, he sat down on the swing next to her and spoke.

"Why are you always staring at the ground?"

Her eyes snapped up to his face quickly and then back down while she thought of an answer, "I…. like the ground," she said nervously.

"That's stupid," he told her bluntly.

They didn't talk for awhile after that. She barely swung at all while he slowly picked up speed until he was so high in the air that she thought he might disappear into the sky. She thought that she might be relieved if he did and maybe his mother would be so sad about it that she would move away and a new family would move into their home. Maybe that family would have a little girl that she could play with. One that wasn't dark and scary. He didn't disappear. In fact once he was so high in the air that she thought he might loop around he jumped off and landed skillfully on his feet.

He turned around to face her, "I'm bored. Let's do something else," he demanded.

"Like what?" she asked quietly from her place on the swing.

"We should play 'Rabbit and Hunter,'" he told her.

She visibly brightened, "That sounds like fun!" she said while getting up from the swing, "How do we play?" She imagined that they would go on an adventure to find rabbits and she loved rabbits.

"Well, you'll be a rabbit and I'll be the hunter. You run away and I have to catch you. Then I gut you and eat you for dinner!" he shouted in glee.

"You-," she started to speak horrified.

"If you get back to the swing set before I catch you, then you get to live another day, but I don't think you'll get back," he finished with a mocking smile.

She was already backing away from him, "I don't like this game though… I don't want to play anymore!" she shouted.

"You get a ten second head start," he said, ignoring her, "Ten, nine, eight-," he started, but she was already running as fast as she could towards the forest. She was thinking that he had to be joking.

"He won't really gut me and eat me," she breathed to herself as she ran, "He's crazy!"

She reached the forest and seconds later heard him shout, "Zero!" Immediately she started to run faster. Branches reached out and hit her in the face and thorns scraped into her legs and tore at her dress, but she ignored it in the hopes that she could escape the horrible boy. She leaped across a tiny creek and took a left, hoping that she could elude him. Her heart pounded in her ears and she imagined that she could hear him directly behind her. She didn't turn around to find out if she could or not, she jumped at the nearest tree and started to climb.

When she had gone as high as she possibly could, she was hidden in the dense leaves. She was breathing hard but forced herself to stop as she heard footsteps approaching. Tears were slipping down her face but she forced herself to be silent.

Through a lightening in the leaves, she saw him appear, but he didn't stop, he sprinted by quickly, without stopping. He didn't expect her to be in the tree. She sat in the tree in silence for minutes before she decided it was safe enough to get down. As soon as her feet touched the ground she was sprinting even harder than she had before. She had to get back out of the woods where he was looking for her and she had to get back to the swing set before he caught her. As she reached the edge of the forest she heard a noise about sixty feet behind her. It was a splash. She didn't have to turn around to know that it was his foot fall in the small creek. She let out a startled yelp and pushed herself harder.

He was fast and it wasn't long before had almost caught up to her. She wasn't sure if she would reach the swing set in time, but she did. She grabbed onto a swing and collapsed to the ground while holding onto its rope. She sat there panting and whimpering while he walked towards her slowly, mockingly.

"Well that was quite a run you gave me rabbit, but now it's time for dinner," he said while baring his teeth menacingly.

She looked up at him and squeaked, "Wait! Stay back! I won, so that means the game is over! I am not a rabbit and you have to GO AWAY!" she ended with a yell.

He looked down at her and smirked, "Oh that's right," he paused as if deep in thought, "But… I think I want to play again!" he shouted. "You get ten seconds," he informed her and started to count swiftly, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five-,"

"No!" she screamed, "That isn't fair! I don't want to play with you anymore!" and she started to get up and run while he advanced on her.

"Jane! Marcus! Time to come in for lunch, dears!" shouted a voice from the backdoor. He stopped his advance and scowled up at the house. Jane didn't waste a minute and quickly sprinted towards the house while Marcus paused. She heard him mutter something darkly as she ran but didn't stop to hear what it was. She reached the house and stood panting for breath under her mother's disapproving gaze.

"What on earth have you done to your dress?" she asked.

Jane looking down at her blue dress with embarrassment and saw that it was ruined by the sharp thorns and branches from the forest. Scratches covered her arms and legs and some bled openly. For a moment Jane considered telling her mom about the mean game that the boy had forced her to play with him, but as she heard his footsteps behind her she froze up and simply mumbled to her mother, "I'm sorry. It was an accident."

Her mother sighed exasperated, "Look at you! You're a young lady, nearly eight years old and you can't even keep yourself clean?" she looked at the boy who was slowly walking up to them with a polite smile on his face, "Look at Marcus! Not a scratch on him and _his _clothes are perfectly intact! Why don't you follow his example and be a good little girl? Try to act more grown up like him. How old are you again Marcus dear?"

"Nine," he answered politely.

"See?" she asked her daughter, "Not much older than you and he can keep himself acceptable! In the future I would appreciate it if you were to follow his example. Hold out your arms," she told her.

Jane complied, her face burning in embarrassment and her mother healed the scratches on her arms. Jane did all that she could to avoid looking at him, but she could still feel Marcus's eyes on her. She could tell that he was angry that his game been cut short and she still considered telling her mother about it. But then, as her mother bent down to heal her legs, he did catch her eyes and immediately, she realized what an awful idea it would be to tell her mother. She quickly glanced away from the restrained fury in his eyes, vowing to never again look at those dark orbs.

Her mother finished and told her briskly, "Now, go up stairs and get cleaned up. After that you may join us at the dinner table. Follow me Marcus."

They went ahead of her into the house and she followed them until she reached the stairs that led to her room. Halfway up, Jane glanced behind her. Marcus Flint was staring at her as he followed her mother into the dining room. She unwillingly broke her vow as their eyes locked yet again, her apprehensive and his calmly menacing. She stared back silently and he smirked. With that smirk that she had come to hate more than anything in the world, he promised that there would be more, much worse games to come. She scurried up the stairs and hoped to herself that those games wouldn't be happening anytime soon and wishing more than anything that he would disappear.

….

**This is my first serious fanfiction on this site, or any site for that matter. I've made another one before, but it is anything but serious. I** **hope that all of you have enjoyed the first chapter and will enjoy the ones to come. Feel free to review and even leave criticism if you want. I'm always working to become better. I will not be leaving this story without updates for months at a time because it annoys me to no end when people do that. I will be updating as often as possible and it I can't find time to write new chapters, I will MAKE time instead. I hope you enjoy Marcus and the OC! **


	2. Chapter 2

**So there isn't too much GRAPHIC stuff in this quite yet, only because they are so young, but I still want to build up a bit more of a back story. It will pick up soon so don't worry. Thank you to those who reviewed and added the story to alert or favorites **

There wasn't too much of Marcus in Jane's life during the years that followed. The reason for this being simple: Bigotry. Not long after the Flints had come over for lunch, her parents had found out through a friend of a friend, that Marcus descended from trolls and that his father was half troll. Jane's parents simply did _not _consort with half-breeds and they definitely did not allow their daughter near any either.

Jane was overjoyed. She did find her parents' reasoning for banning the Flints from the household to be a bit absurd, but she was blinded by her joy in being rid of the evil boy. She could envision a Marcus free future and nothing else. To her dismay, it wasn't actually forever before she saw him again.

It was autumn and just a few days after her eighth birthday when she was playing in her yard being her home. She was by the pond when she saw a reflection in the rippling water. It was him. She startled and stood up quickly to face him. He looked just the same as she had remembered him. He stared at her silently while she shook and debated turning around and sprinting for the house, though she doubted that she could outrun him in the long yellow dress she was wearing.

When he still didn't speak for what seemed like several minutes to Jane, she finally plucked up the courage to speak, "What are you doing here? My father doesn't you or your mother here. You should leave before he comes out here and curses you back to…" but her voice suddenly lost its weak power and faded out when she saw the anger in his eyes.

"Your father is a pompous asshole! He had no right to treat us so awfully!" he told her angrily.

Jane had no clue what a 'pompous asshole' was but she figured that it had to be insulting, "You have no right to say things like that, you half-human troll!"

When she saw the anger in his eyes intensify tenfold, she knew that she had made a mistake and she quickly scrambled to take it back but he was already marching over to her with incredible speed and before she could run two steps, he had grabbed her and spun her around to face him. With his hand fisted around the fabric of the collar of her dress, he pulled her upwards and very close to his own face.

He spoke to her very quietly with barely contained anger soaking his every word, "If you _ever_ call me that again, or anything like that, for that matter, I will make you wish that you _were never born_."

She stared at him in absolute horror, stunned into silence by his brutal treatment of her and his threatening promise.

"Do you understand?" he asked her with the same amount of anger.

She nodded quickly, "Yes. Yes! Please let me down!"

He spent a few moments searching her eyes before abruptly dropping her. She only stared at the ground near his shoes, determined to do so until he left and she could run to the safety of her home. Eventually those shoes moved out of her vision and she could hear his footsteps walking away, back into the forest where he had come from. Jane made a mental note to never enter there again without one of her parents with her. When she finally looked up, he was gone. As she ran towards the house, she was hoping that maybe her comment had upset him so much and made him so angry that he wouldn't want to come searching for her anymore.

….

Autumn passed quickly and then gave into winter. During this time Jane spent almost no time outside and so she was not at risk of encountering him.

Christmas came around and was a time of much joy for Jane. She had almost entirely forgotten about Marcus by then and was not thinking about him at all on the night after Christmas when the owl tapped on her window. She was getting ready for bed and was not expecting a package. She expected that it was probably some sort of late Christmas present. After some struggle, she finally opened the window and took the package. The owl had already flown away before she could give it a proper thank you.

It was a small package with plain brown wrapping paper. There was a card with it as well and she opened that first. It simply read: _A late Christmas present for you. _She wasted no time in opening it, not even thinking that she had no idea who it was from. When she finally opened it, she was met with a ghastly sight. It took her mind a few minutes to properly grasp it and then she was out into the hallway screaming and crying.

It took her parents twenty minutes to calm her down even after they had gone back into her room and seen that there wasn't even a package. They tried to convince her that she'd simply had a bad dream but she didn't believe it. Finally they got her into bed, though she was still crying quietly, and left her alone.

Jane was sure that her parents thought that she was crazy, but she knew what she had seen. In that package there was a small dead lamb with its throat slit and its legs all twisted and broken. Now there was no lamb left and there was no package or note, but she knew it had been there, and she knew who had done it. It was Marcus Flint and he was obviously a much more sick and disturbed boy than she had ever imagined. There was no way that she was ever going outside into the backyard without her parents ever again. She could never risk getting caught by him again.

She once again considered telling her parents what he had done and she thought that they might even have believed it because they were so against him and his family, but she couldn't do it. Truthfully, she felt that he was watching her every second and that telling her parents would only make things worse. She kept quiet.

….

Winter soon was over, but the lamb had never left her mind and even as the snow melted and the weather grew warmer, Jane still stayed inside, too afraid to be caught outside by Marcus. Instead she stayed inside and focused on her studies. There were, of course, times when she couldn't avoid going outside. Her mother would often send her outside and during those times she would always stay as close to her house as possible. Though she never saw him, she felt that she could feel him watching her from the distant forest near the edge of her backyard. She never went anywhere near it. She dreaded the day when he would finally come out of the forest. That day never came. Instead, she went to him.

It happened when he dog broke away from its leash and went sprinting into the woods after a rabbit. She considered waiting for it to come back, but it wasn't a very well trained dog and she doubted that it ever would if she didn't catch it. Knowing that she would receive a scolding from her mother and possibly more physical punishment if she didn't catch it, she went after the dog. She was well aware of the fact that if Marcus was in the woods and if she was spotted by him, then things would get bad to say the least. Her blood chilled as she thought of what he would do if he caught her, or even her dog. He didn't seem to like animals too much.

It was a bit darker in the woods. There was no sign of the dog or Marcus so she went in the direction that she had seen it going in. After about ten minutes of searching for the dog, she still hadn't found him and she was getting closer to the edge of the woods. Knowing that that was where Marcus's house was, she decided to turn back and re-trace her steps. There was no way that she was exiting the woods anywhere near Marcus's house, even if that was where her dog had gone. She thought that she would rather face her mother.

She was just considering giving up, when she heard his voice from up above, "Come to visit me Janie?" he asked cruelly.

She looked up just in time to see him drop from the tree to land in front of her, "Or are you just looking for your little puppy?" he asked her teasingly with a wicked smile on his face.

"Where is he?" she shouted.

"Well, well, well, I think you'll just have to wait to find that out," he teased.

"What have you done? Give him back!"

"Oh I will," he told her nodding.

She waited but he didn't say anything or move to get her dog, which was still nowhere in sight, "Where is he then?" she asked worriedly.

He smirked, "You'll have to wait until tonight to get him, of course."

"Why… why tonight?" she asked. Her bravery was starting to diminish and her voice sank with it.

"You come out here tonight, to this exact place, and I'll have your god for you then, safe and sound. If not… well, I don't think you want to know what happens then."

As he finished, Jane was reminded of the dead lamb that he sent to her and she nearly started crying right then.

"Well," he asked her, "Are you coming or not?"

She nodded quickly, not speaking.

Suddenly, Marcus cheered up and asked her happily, "So, do you want to hang out for a bit? We can play a game."

Jane shook her head frantically then turned around and ran for her house. Behind her she could hear him shout, "Fine, have it your way! Be here at midnight! Not a moment late!" She didn't wait to here more.

….

It was fairly easy to sneak out of Jane's home, and that's just what she did that night just before midnight. She exited through the cellar which had an opening out into the backyard. She was dressed in only her long white nightgown and was already shivering before she had reached the forest. The walk seemed longer and much more frightening in the dark, especially when she considered what was waiting for her at the end of it.

She reached the clearing at what she assumed was close enough to midnight. He was already there, waiting for her.

"You're late," he informed her bluntly.

She only shrugged nervously and then asked, "Can I please have my dog back?"

"Come with me and you'll get your dog," he smirked darkly.

He led her out of the forest and they came upon a large home, one that was smaller and less nice than hers, but large all the same. When Jane saw that he wanted her to go into the house she stopped and told him, "I am not going in there!" in a way that showed how truly frightened she was.

He rolled his eyes at her and grabbed her upper arm to pull her close. With her ear very close to his mouth he whispered harshly to her, "This is the only way that you're getting your dog back. You can take it or not."

"Why could you not just give it back to me in the forest!" she asked him, half angry and half frightened.

"Because I don't have it!" and for the first time, she could tell that he was annoyed by something, something other than her.

She was just about to ask him who did have it when the backdoor opened and a man's voice called out, "You better get in here boy! Bring that girl."

Her mouth was agape as Marcus tightened his grip on her arm and led her into the house.

She quickly saw that the man was just like a larger, much more troll-like version of Marcus. He was the tallest man that Jane had ever seen and she immediately identified him to be Marcus's father. His hair was longer and his teeth even more crooked than his sons. His skin was curious color. It was almost a mixture of dark green and normal tan skin. His ears were smaller than any normal man's and his head was much larger. Jane had never actually seen a troll before, but she was sure that they looked something like the man.

He gestured to Jane, "Yer fuckin dog got in the yard," he told her bluntly. "I don' wan' it 'appenin again, ya 'ear?" She nodded quickly.

He walked closer towards her and regarded her closely, "A pretty girl she is Marcus. I see why she 'as yer 'ead all up in the clouds," he said making Jane feel confused and a bit awkward. Surely no one in their right mind could think that, she thought.

"Yea dad," he said quickly, "Can we go?"

"Take the dog," he said, "You ain't goin' to tell your arse of a father 'bout this, is ya?" he asked turning to Jane who shook her head frantically, "You don' talk much does ya girl?" he asked her, to which she once again shook her head silently.

He grunted and exited the room. Jane was relieved. She thought that Marcus had brought her to his home to kill her and then, when she saw his father, she had thought that he had taken her so that his father could eat her. Still a bit shaken and nervous about being in the house, she turned to Marcus so that she could ask him where her dog was.

He spoke before she could, "Come get your stupid dog," he said harshly.

"Can't I just wait outside… I, um, I don't want to break anything."

"No," he told her bluntly and reached at her so that he could grab her arm and drag her along. This time she moved quickly and jumped out of his reach. He simply smirked and rolled his eyes, and then he gestured for her to follow him. They entered a dark hallway with awful green wallpaper. Jane was beginning to notice the details of the house after the terror of meeting his father earlier. She thought the house smelled awful, like old meat and decay. The few lights that were lying about were incredibly dim and ineffective. The carpet was stained in places and seemed to be entirely discolored.

They reached a door and Marcus opened it. She saw that it led to a cellar.

"Go get your dog," he told her while grinning wickedly.

Luckily, before she had time to even think about entering that dark, dark space, she heard a bark and her dog came running up to greet her. Jane smiled and picked it up as it came to her. Then before she could even register the scowl on Marcus's face she was turned around and running out of the house as quickly as she could. She didn't stop until she reached her home and was panting for breath.

….

She didn't see Marcus again that spring. She saw him a few times during the summer, he would come out of the forest and make towards her house, smirking. She always stayed close enough to the house so that when it would happen, she would be able to get inside quickly. After that summer though, she didn't see him in the fall, or in the winter or the spring and by the summer, when she was nine, she still hadn't seen him. This made her quite happy indeed. She planned on never seeing him again, but, as always, she figured out that it would be impossible. She heard through her parents that Marcus would be attending Hogwarts in the fall, the school that she herself would be attending during the following fall.

She tried to convince her parents to allow her to go to another school, for they knew of a suitable one located in France, but they were also set on her attending Hogwarts, the school where they themselves had spent their school years. When Jane saw that she couldn't change their minds, she gave up. She knew that she would have at least one Marcus-free year and when she went to Hogwarts, they would be separated by a year. He would be in second and she would be in first. Hopefully they would even be separated by house as well.

Jane never thought about what Marcus's father had said about him; that he liked her; that his head was in the clouds because of her. She couldn't take it seriously. There was no way that a mean, evil boy such as him could like anyone, she told herself, and then she let it slip from her mind.


End file.
